Heaven is eternal, the Earth everlasting
They can be eternal and everlasting
because they do not exist for themselves
for that reason they can exist.

Therefore Evolved Individuals
put themselves last
and yet they are first
Put themselves outside
and yet they remain.
Is it not because they are without self-interest that their interests succeed?

FU HSI (2953-2838 BC)

first legendary emperor credited for the invention of the calendar, marriage contract and creator of string instrument. Taught his people to fish, hunt, cook and raise domestic animals for food. INventor of the I ching trigrams while observing the shell of the tortoise..recognising the roles of constancy and change in nature and applied them to the affairs of society, creating one of history's first management systems.
For the evolved individual who acts selflessly , their desires are transformed and they developed priorities that are aligned intelligently with both current situation and with larger influences in the world. For this reason as their aims are fulfilled , their environment evolves.

Cub39 write: Hmmmmm. This might imply that Tao and Bush are opposites.

_______________________

CUB, about time some of the world leaders read the TAo of Power, recording observations of ancient emperors of China and the origins of one of the oldest philosophical thoughts...of the oldest civilisation in the world..how did they survive this long thru so much natural and man-made disasters? Perhaps they hold secrets that we have only begun to understand?

he understood clearly the importance of leadership and believed that strong social order was based on universal patterns which he did his best to record. He kept a record of astronomical observations -the cycles of the moon and planetary revolutions-compiled a calendar consisting of 360 days and 4 seasons. Thus he is credited with teaching his people to regulate agriculture by sowing seeds at the proper season.

Evolved individuals are those who are always in harmony with the deeper trends in the evolution of society. They exert the force of their convictions through a state of focused inner awareness, while externally they practise strategic noninterference. Those who follow Tao are reluctant to push things to the extreme,including extremes of complacency , for they know that this can lead to undesirable consequences. Instead they strive to maintain their intellectual balance by experiencing the rhythms of natural events with emotional independence.

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."
"I've never killed a man, but I've read many an obituary with a great deal of satisfaction."
"Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry."
"There are no dialogues, only intersecting monologues"
"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow."
"None but the dead have free speech."
"Only presidents, editors and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial 'we'."
"Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very'; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be."
"The report of my death was an exaggeration."
"They did not know it was impossible, so they did it!"
"They spell it 'da Vinci' and pronounce it 'da Vinchy.' Foreigners always spell better than they pronounce."
"Every generalization is dangerous, especially this one."
"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."

Truth from Mark Twain
"Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't"
"A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval."
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."
"Do something every day that you don't want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain."
"Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live."
"Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with."
"I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position."
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it."
"I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way."
"When in doubt, tell the truth."
"A lie can make it half way around the world before the truth has time to put its boots on."
"The truth is a precious thing. Therefore, use it sparingly."
"Truth is more of a stranger than fiction."

To string incongruities and absurdities together in a wandering and sometimes purposeless way, and seem innocently unaware that they are absurdities, is the basis of the American art, if my position is correct."
Source: Mark Twain "How To Tell A Story" (1897}

? "In a monarchy, the king and his family are the country; in a republic it is the common voice of the people. Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press, government, or the empty catch-phrases of politicians. Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide it against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may. If you alone of all the nation shall decide one way, and that way be the right way according to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your country--hold up your head. You have nothing to be ashamed of."
Source: Mark Twain "Papers of the Adam Family"

IN the west man marries the woman he loves, in the EAst man learn to love the woman he marries but also learn to love other women too..and hence they have a harem of wives and concubines...

---mine and anon

As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious . There is no such thing as religion over-riding morality . Man for instance cannot be untruthful , cruel or incontinent and claim to have God on his side..Gandhi.

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We ahve grapsed the mystery of the atom and rejected the sermon on the Mount..

Murphy's Law
If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.

Murphy's Law
If there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then.

Murphy's Law
If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.

Murphy's Law
If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

Murphy's Law
Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.

Murphy's Law
Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.

Murphy's Law
Every solution breeds new problems.

Murphy's Law
Enough research will tend to support your theory.

Murphy's Law
When there is a very long road upon which there is a one-way bridge placed at random, and there are only two cars on that road, it follows that: (1) the two cars are going in opposite directions, and (2) they will always meet at the bridge.

Murphy's Law
Smile... tomorrow will be worse.

Murphy's Law
Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.

Murphy's Law
You never run out of things that can go wrong.

Murphy's Law
No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.

Murphy's Law
If your advance is going well, you are walking into an ambush.

Murphy's Law
The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.

Murphy's Law
Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence.

Murphy's Law
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.

Murphy's Law
An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.

Murphy's Law
All's well that ends.

Murphy's Law
A meeting is an event at which the minutes are kept and the hours are lost.